Technical Field
Embodiments of the invention relate generally to medical imaging technologies, and more specifically, to a system and method for displaying medical images of an object within a patient.
Discussion Of Art
Medical imaging systems provide for the ability to image objects within a patient, e.g., bones, organs, fluids, etc. For example, ultrasound imaging systems generate images of objects within a patient by transmitting sound waves into the patient and analyzing returned echoes and magnetic resonance imaging (“MRI”) systems generate images of objects within a patient by placing a patient in a magnetic field, exciting atoms within the patient while in the magnetic field, and analyzing radio frequencies emitted by the atoms as they relax back to lower energy states.
Many medical imaging systems display generated medical images on screens having fixed positions. Such screens, however, are often not easily viewed by the patient undergoing the imaging procedure, e.g., a fetal ultrasound. Further, the medical images displayed on such screens are typically from a fixed perspective. As such, many medical imaging systems do not provide for a person to dynamically define the perspective of the medical images in real-time. In other words, in many medical imaging systems, the perspective of the medical images remains the same as a person viewing the images moves around the patient.
What is needed, therefore, is an improved system and method for displaying medical images of an object within a patient.